Ascension Parish pumping stations ready for duty

GONZALES - Public schools in Ascension Parish are already cancelled, and the parish has its pumps up and running as they are trying to keep the water from rising.

Three different pumping stations in Ascension Parish are responsible for keeping floodwaters from sinking residents and their property. Each pump is capable of processing over 400,000 gallons of water every minute, according to the Office of Emergency Preparedness.

Over the next few days, it is likely that hundreds of thousands of gallons of water will flow through the hard-working bays before being pumped out into Lake Maurepas. On Thursday, two of the six pumps were operating and the flood gates were closed.

All of the water that comes through the stations comes from areas within Gonzales, Highway 42 and Highway 73 in Prairieville. It's a wide swath of land, so it's important the pumps are operating at full capacity.

"If this rain continues, at the rate it's going now, without this pumping station, you would have flooding within the city of Gonzales," said Bill Roux of the Ascension Department of Public Works.